The world’s in a tizzy but there is something we can do for most of us to get through it together. I call it ‘pro-active’ prepping and its all about communication and community. Building alternative systems is what we need. We see the mega wealthy doing it in the US as wealthy private citizens and companies are building a new authoritarian government within the decaying corpse of the current one. We’ll see the same here soon too, as Pauline imports Trump style politics and the mega rich and Christian Nationalists flock to support her.
So, where to start? When to start? Well, the answer to that my friends has been known for a long time, start at home and start right now.
Why did I include August in the title of this post? Its because of the invasion of Iran. The last ship that passed through the Strait or Hormuz before the Iranian government started charging for the passage. That means that things will have that fee added to them soon. Any price rises before now have been pure profit taking, as goods sold recently were purchased before the kerfuffle, so beyond a little for transport, prices shouldn’t have hiked the way they have.
August is a little way away, so why then? It is because of the knock on effects of the war, particularly the oil supply and profiteering from that. Not only have oil prices gone up enormously but fertilizer too. Commercial nitrogen fertilizers are made from fossil fuels (mostly natural gas, but when one fuel goes up, they all do), so that’s tipped to skyrocket. In fact, recently, my favourite commercial fertilizer, the Thrive soluble 1.8 litre pack disappeared from the shelves of certain big stores. Luckily its back but there was no reason given for its disappearance. We make most of our own fertiliser here but I like to add a handful of that to each of my aquaponics tubs to help add micronutrients, which I have no way of measuring. They’re probably in my home made fertilizers but I do this to make sure.
Related to fertilizer, sulphur is a big product of the fossil fuel industry and it is used in many, many industrial processes, often as sulphuric acid but also some medicines including sulphur based antibiotics such as Bactrim.
On a similar scale, ethylene also comes from the same origins, think of plastic here, It’s the “E” in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which is the number 1 in the recycling code on your plastics and is the most common plastic used in the food and beverage industry. It’s also in the HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) which is used to make ag-pipe. PET is also used to make the plastics for greenhouse covers…see where this is all heading…a price hike in agricultural production, passed on to us through the food and packaging we buy. August is important because, from readings I do online and my dodgy analysis, August is when these knock on effects will start to hit the US and of course, that’ll knock on to us via global supply chains, profiteering here in OZ. We could be making it all here, from our own resources but policies going back to, as far as I can tell, the Howard era, have stripped us of that capacity.
Ethylene has also been used as a commercial ripening agent – its what makes those unripe Tomatoes look lovely and red in the shops.!
So, lets start looking at home…our homes, not the country. We can start to put in home and local infrastructure to shiel our communities from the price hikes and engineered shortages of food. That’s pretty easy but think about it, a community based food programme has different requirement to just growing veggies for your family but, as always, lets start small and look at key veggies to grow at home first to get a head start.
We need to look at various plants for energy (carbohydrates), protein, nutrients (vitamins, minerals and amino acids etc), we also have to look for plants high in fibre (both insoluble for our regularity and soluble for our gut microbiome’s health – see, we’re already taking care of our internal community). Then we have healing plants, which may also be some of the above, which is a win because it means less resources used and less time and space required. Many of the good plants in these categories are easy to grow, tough as nails and set seeds or tubers easily so that we can keep them going and spread them around.
The first plants that plants that spring to mind are –
- Beetroot – nutrients, fibre, loads of antioxidants, plus the leaves can be used to make alcohol for healing or fuel. They make good food for livestock too.
- Sweet potatoes – it is said that between the leaves and the tuber, Sweet Potato contains all of the nutrients a person needs. It is a great food for livestock (the leaves particularly are a favourite of our chooks). You can also make alcohol out of them
- Potatoes – good quality potatoes are full of goodness, go for the red varieties (in nature, the deeper the colour, the more antioxidants there in a plant). They provide a great source of carbs plus can be used for stock feed and alcohol making too!
- Onions – terrific sources of fibre and nutrition plus have many medicinal uses.
- Garlic – a good additive because of the sulphur compounds that making it and onions pretty powerful antibiotics. You can eat the scapes (leaves) instead of digging up the bulbs all the time too – leave a few bulbs around the garden to keep reproducing and use only their leaves.
- Jerusalem Artichokes – these contain a lot of soluble fibre in the form of inulin, this soluble fibre provides the source material for the production of many short chain fatty acids including Acetate (used throughout the body for energy), Propionate (helps protect the liver, supports metabolic health, lowers cholesterol in the blood) and Butyrate (the primary energy source for the cells in our gut linings and can reduce inflammation there and throughout the body )
- Kale – well known for its high nutrient level (particularly minerals)
- Longevity Spinach – an easily grown Asian green that has w wide range of nutritional and medicinal properties and is also used traditionally (and by Jelina) to lower blood sugar levels.
- Nettles – a powerhouse of nutrition and healing. You’re probably better off looking at our Nettles page for those details, there are so-o-o-o many. You can also make an excellent fertiliser and plant tonic from Nettles as well as a pretty good fibre for textiles.
- Moringa – called the ‘miracle tree’ for good reason. This fast growing tree has a multitude of uses from medicine and food and nutrition to oil production. Once the oil has been extracted from the seeds, the pulp can be used to extract some contaminants out of dirty water too!
- Prickly Pear – a very versatile plant with a uses that span food and medicine, alcohol production and fodder. I haven’t updated our page about it into the new format yet but must get around to it!
- Generic green veggies -things like spinach, lettuce, kale, amaranth and many others can be used to provide nutritious micro-greens in even the tiniest of space. They are quick to grow – you’re only growing them to seedling stage , or you can even eat them as the seeds germinate (aka “sprouting”) if you’re in a real hurry (germination improves the nutrient profile and adds fibre and water to the mix). So get germinating and get healthy. I should really eat more of them myself!
Each of these plants are easy to get a hold of here in South Australia, easy to grow and there is a lot of local knowledge about growing and using them. Once established, you can keep them going from their own seeds, bulbs or tubers and share them around, widening your own safety net and building a better one for your community.
For other ideas, look to your wild edibles. They succeed in the wild because of their rapid life cycle, and general hardiness. They are also some of our best sources of nutrition and medicine. Rather than me bog you down with a detailed list, check out our Wild herbs page for links to some of the many that grow around here.
You may note that one of the key features of plants in the list is that they can be used to make alcohol. Home alcohol production (fermentation and distilling) is remarkably easy and can be done with a very simple stovetop still (about $150 on ebay, so they’re a little pricey but affordable. Maybe a community purchase)? Once you’ve given it a go you’ll wonder why you never did it before. Home made alcohol can be used for extracting herbal constituents, sterilising, cleaning and, yes, even drinking (only to keep your spirits up, of course). Alcohol is a great asset in the community and not everyone needs to have the gear or skillset to make it, one or two folks will be enough.
If you’re finding this information useful, share it with your community
